Candy cane rebar is a lie

There is link on the BM website That talks about how to bend rebar, and specifically mentions Professor Flubber’s Patented Kandy-Kane Rebar Method! :

What you need is your three-foot lengths of rebar, and two long pieces of steel pipe to slip over the end, 4 feet long at least, the longer the better. Place one pipe on the ground and brace the far end against your house or anything else vertical and solid. Slip your rebar stake into the pipe so that about 4-6 inches are sticking out of the end. Take the other pipe and put this over the short end of the rebar that’s sticking out, and crank the thing over until you have made a candy-cane out of your stake.

This is a terrible misleading set of instructions, and has led people to create some useless interesting pieces of rebar that are good for many things, EXCEPT actually inserting into the playa.

Your rebar should NOT look exactly like a candy cane!

If you look at the picture on the right, you can see a few different samples of rebar that we have seen in the wild.

• A GOOD rebar will be 18-24 inches long
• A GOOD rebar will have a 2-3 inch hook on it
• A GOOD rebar will have a TIGHT bend, like this :

BUT your rebar should never look like this

WHY is that bad ?

Rebar that has a large bend in it just acts like a spring, instead of driving it into the ground, you just make the bend worse :

And it will end up looking like this :

So, don’t think ‘candy cane‘ just think ‘hook on the end’, and you will be a lot happier when you get out there and try to bang that sucka into the playa.

Now, to get that thing into the ground

You need to think a tad about what is being attached to the rebar and apply a little bit of theory of how to angle your rebar/stakes into the ground. Here is a very old simple diagram that we did to explain this:

What this means is for higher angle ropes (like the GREEN one), you need to angle your rebar in more steeply. plan for at least 18“ INTO THE GROUND (so buy/cut 24” long pieces)

Lastly,

If you are too wimpy to bend you rebar by hand (it doesn’t take much effort), here is a drawing showing how one camper makes their “candy canes”

Stake Pullers

There are many clever stake pullers on this page. If you want an easy solution try this: Get a pair of vise-grips, grab onto the top of the stake with the vise grips and twist while pouring water down the shaft of the stake. Two complete turns should do it and the stake slides right out.

Using Rope and Your Leg Strength

Ember writes: “I have a stake puller I learned about from a DPW old-timer. It’s not heavy-duty but will pull up tent stakes, concrete form stakes, and rebar. It fits comfortably in a pocket; I store mine in a sandwich ziploc. Unfortunately there’s no URL to point to a seller’s web page. Perhaps when we meet, a camera can capture how to make and use one.

It’s a 10-ft length of flat nylon tubing – a climber’s lightweight rope, really, purchased at REI. A couple of knotted loops make it possible to seize a stake, tighten the strap around your waist (over your hipbones) while you stand bent-kneed over the stake, and then stand up by straightening your knees. Behold: no back effort; it’s all legs doing what they do well. Out comes the stake.

The effectiveness can be greatly increased by an assistant who grabs the stake with vise-grip pliers and rotates it back and forth – also a low-stress activity.

I’ve made a drawing of how to tie the knots, and use the puller, but it’s not online. I’ll be happy to show off the puller once we reach the playa.”

Weed Wrench

Yes, this doesn’t sound like something you’d need on the playa, but it’s the tool used by the infamous DPW of Black Rock City.
$82 http://www.weedwrench.com/index.htm

Stake Pullers for Concrete Forms

Yet another unlikely source for stake pullers. These are designed to pull stakes out of concrete forms, but can also be used on the playa.
http://www.deeconcrete.com/stakepullers.html

Multi-purpose Stake Pullers

These guys have figured out there are many uses for stake pullers.
$95 http://stakepuller.com

Tent Stake Puller

This one looks sturdy.
$250 http://www.gettent.com/catalog2/1__stake_pullers_1591529.htm

Tent Stake Puller with Wheels

Wheeeeee! Scroll down to see the stake puller. Call them for more information.
http://www.anchorinc.com/tentaccessories.html

Tolman Tool Stake Puller

Typical playa tool. (Kerry uses this one. Position its short end downward, and it pulls candy-caned rebar, too.)
http://www.tolmantool.com/stake.htm
$60 http://www.amazon.com/

Gas-Powered Stake Puller

Silly! Don’t use this one in the AEZ!

http://www.gettent.com/stakepuller.htm

Broken Stake Pullers

It doesn’t take the Incredible Hulk to break a stake puller! Here are some photos of a stake puller from Harbor Freight: they no longer carry these. It bent and cracked its second year on the playa.

This puller is made of Mystery Metal! If you want to get a durable puller, get one made of steel, as opposed to unlisted metal or iron. Of course, strength is more than just the metal: design is important too.

Be careful how you use a stake puller: even an expensive one can break if it’s used improperly. To avoid tool breakage and/or bending of your stakes, align the tool so that it pulls the stake straight out of the ground.